The Mary Sue » WildCathttp://www.themarysue.com
The Nexus of Pop Culture and the Uncharted UniverseWed, 04 Mar 2015 00:00:37 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=2015.10Youtube’s Top Ten List of “Geek Videos” for 2013 Is Much Better Than Their Other Lists - There aren't even any foxes or anything!http://www.themarysue.com/youtube-top-geek-list/
http://www.themarysue.com/youtube-top-geek-list/#commentsWed, 11 Dec 2013 14:35:33 +0000http://www.geekosystem.com/?p=187458

You’ve seen the 2013 Top Ten List of overall videos by now (and of you haven’t, you can check it out here), and if you’re like us then you found them a bit lacking in stuff like Chris Hadfield singing in space or giant terrifying cheetah robots. Well, never fear! Youtube’s weird obsession with “geeks” paid off for us with this awesome Top Ten Trending list.

At the top of the list, we’ve got Commander Chris Hadfield singing “Space Oddity” by David Bowie (with some altered lyrics, of course) in… well, space. The video clocks in at 19 million views. Compare that to Ylvis’s 270 million views for “What Does The Fox Say” and weep with us, friends.

Speaking of weeping, that’s what we’ll all be doing when the Boston Dynamics Wildcat gallops apace to crush out meat bodies and collect our souls. Because that’s what it’s going to do. The 15 million people who viewed this terrifying video know this. It came in at Number 2, so watch out, Hadfield — the Wildcat is no doubt coming for you first.

Up next in third we have the “Mini-Minotaur” song by Tobuscus and Tim Tim. Oh, great. Now we’re going to have this song stuck in our heads again for the rest of our lives, just like the 10,823,900 other people who watched this.

Nigahiga put together this fake Naruto movie trailer for Youtube’s Geek Week and even filmed part of it in Japan while on vacation. We’re not big Naruto people here at Geekosystem, but yeah, we’d totally watch a full-length version of this, as would 9.9 million other viewers.

In fifth place, Harrison Ford refuses to answer any questions about Star Wars on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which over 8.7 million people watched online. And why should he answer our stupid questions? He lived the Star Wars, Ted. He lived them.

Coming back around to fake movie trailers by Nigahiga, this Candy Crush themed video hit over 7.8 million viewers, and features a surprise cameo by Temple Run and Fruit Ninja.

NigaHiga isn’t the only Youtube user to make it onto this list twice — Rhett and Link accomplished is as well, because of course they did. Here’s their first video of amazing optical illusions from the Rhett and Link 2 account, which got over 7.6 million views.

The shortest video to grace the geek list, this Thor: The Dark World spot from Comedy Central depicts Loki getting harassed by a bunch of first graders who think Thor is better. We would say it depicts Tom Hiddleston dressed as Loki, but come on. He probably thinks he is Loki at this point, and 5.7 million viewers would probably agree.

Lastly, you can’t have a list of geek videos without one that was taken at Comic Con, and one that’s full of people dressed as robots. This SDCC video from Wired delivers on both fronts, with an added appearance Adam Savage of Mythbusters to round out the awesomeness. It only got 2.5 million views, so we’re guessing that a bunch of other videos were overlooked to put this one in the top ten, but it’s worth it. It’s so worth it.

Interested in more? You can check out the Youtube Year Rewind 2013 page for a bunch of other top ten lists. Just try not to get lost in there — the year’s not over yet, after all.

]]>http://www.themarysue.com/youtube-top-geek-list/feed/0Cheetah Robot Now Capable Of Running On Its Own, Humanity Even More Doomed - Where's John Connor when you need him?http://www.themarysue.com/wildcat/
http://www.themarysue.com/wildcat/#commentsFri, 04 Oct 2013 15:06:25 +0000http://www.geekosystem.com/?p=179382

When last we saw the DARPA-funded “Cheetah” bot, it had just broken the world record for fastest robot with a 28.3 mph running speed. It was also pretty much stuck in one place at the time, which was comforting. Now Boston Dynamics has released video of “Wildcat”, which is able to spring on its own without any assistance. Yeah, this will haunt our dreams tonight.

WildCat clocks in at about an 16 mph speed across flat terrain. That doesn’t sound very fast until you remember that the average human long distance running speed is about 5 to 8 mph. Yeah, if that robot wants to destroy you, it’s not going to have much a problem doing so. You’ll hear the awful and terrible buzz of its motors in the distance and turn to see this galloping towards you, and by then it’ll be too late.

Just look at the way it hops in the beginning of the video. That is the hop of a cold, unfeeling monster from which no one will be safe.

]]>http://www.themarysue.com/wildcat/feed/3DARPA Cheetah Robot Faster Than Usain Bolt, Humanity Doomedhttp://www.themarysue.com/cheetah-human-speed-record/
http://www.themarysue.com/cheetah-human-speed-record/#commentsThu, 06 Sep 2012 16:05:39 +0000http://www.geekosystem.com/?p=115264
Earlier this year, we brought you the news that the DARPA-funded Cheetah robot, crafted by the robotics masterminds at Boston Dynamics, broke the world's land speed record for robots with an 18 mph sprint. This week, the big cat inspired automaton shattered that record, travelling at a speed-blur inducing 28.3 mph. That's not only faster than any robot has ever moved -- it's faster than the human land speed record of 27.9 mph set by Usain Bolt in 2009. That's right -- there is now a robot faster than the world's fastest human, which means it is certainly capable of chasing down any one of us. You can watch the record setting run after the jump, if you're inclined to get a sneak preview of the end of the world.]]>

Earlier this year, we brought you the news that the DARPA-funded Cheetah robot, crafted by the robotics masterminds at Boston Dynamics, broke the world’s land speed record for robots with an 18 mph sprint. This week, the big cat inspired automaton shattered that record, travelling at a speed-blur inducing 28.3 mph. That’s not only faster than any robot has ever moved — it’s faster than the human land speed record of 27.9 mph set by Usain Bolt in 2009. That’s right — there is now a robot faster than the world’s fastest human, which means it is certainly capable of chasing down any one of us. You can watch the record setting run below, if you’re inclined to get a sneak preview of the end of the world.

It’s a comfort to keep in mind that Cheetah is still running on off-board power and stabilized by a boom during this run. In all of the increasingly impressive tests of Cheetah that we’ve seen, it has yet to leave the treadmill and take an unassisted jog on real terrain. So as long as you have the good sense to stay away from treadmills where robots made of speed and metal and nightmares live, you should not have any cause for mind-paralyzing terror.

What is cause for mind-paralyzing terror? This isn’t the last version of Cheetah. The robotic cat is just going to get faster in future iterations, and considering the leaps and bounds it’s made in just the last few months, the thing looks to have a lot of spring in its step when it gets released. Boston Dynamics and DARPA both want a bot capable of galloping along at 50 mph, and taking into account that Cheetah’s speed has jumped from 18 to 28 mph in just the last few months, it’s looking likely that they’ll get one, and maybe sooner than anyone thought.

That release could come as soon as next year, when Boston Dynamics is scheduled to introduce WildCat, the first Cheetah version to move off of the treadmill and into the wild. By “the wild,” we of course mean “your home, where it will proceed to destroy everything you ever loved.”